Demon’s Mirror Review – Matching Cards and Gems

You often get collectible card games, and match-3 games. But having both genres mixed into one is quite rare, definitely worth of making it stand out from the crowd. Demon’s Mirror tries this fairly novel approach and the idea works surprisingly well, all nicely presented in a roguelike approach that is polished and exciting, offering enough depth for the traditional repeat runs while still looking deceivingly simple on the surface. But is this additional match-3 aspect more than a fun gimmick in the long run?

Three Faces, Three Styles

You have three different characters in Demon’s Mirror, only one of them unlocked for your first run, but you’ll quickly get the other two in a couple of hours or less. This will allow you to experiment with their unique traits, as each one comes with a starting trinket that will put a very different spin to the gameplay, providing fairly different playstyles. Ultimately, you’re going to find your favorite depending on how you intend to approach the dungeons, not before experimenting with the vast possibilities and the combinations of card play and match-3 grid action, which have a lot going for them.

When you choose your character, the randomized dungeon map pops up and the only way is to keep moving forward until you reach the boss. There’s no going back, only the occasional choice between a couple of options, battles being the most frequent but you can also stumble upon random events, the shop, elite battles, treasure, a campfire to heal or craft scrolls, and so on. There’s enough richness in a run as to keep it fresh and interesting, spruced up by the ever-changing routes that guarantee a different experience each time.

The battles are where the meat of the game resides, with an intricate combination of systems that fall upon the recurrent and cliched adage of easy to learn, hard to master, but it does ring true here. With your hero on the left, the enemies at the center, the grid on the right side, and your cards at the bottom of the screen, the display is organized and clean, but it will still take some time to understand where trinkets and scrolls go, how they work, the importance of gems such as essence and willpower to increase your odds in combat, respectively for card buffs and choosing a perk. The grid also has swords and shields which are easier to understand – chaining them will result in the correspondent stat for attacking an enemy or providing guard for the current turn.

It’s when deciding where to use the action points that most doubts will pop up. Should you spend them using cards, or on the grid, as the pool is shared between the two? With the expected amount of deck building and randomization for the hands, there’s more than enough to make each run unpredictable; however, this doesn’t mean everything is down to luck, as an attentive eye will take smarter decisions, scrolls and trinkets that you collect or purchase along the way can turn the tide of a battle, and death is certainly not the end, as it unlocks new possibilities such as trinkets, modifiers, and cards for future runs.

And you’re going to need all the help you can get. Most encounters are tough and your health doesn’t replenish after a battle, so you’ll have to learn how to save most of it for the full run, remembering that there’s a boss waiting for you at the end of the region.

It does feel like the match-3 mechanic got a little overlooked, which is a shame since it’s incredibly satisfying to use. It has this addictive Bejeweled feel to it, the way you create the chains and the sounds the gems make, all of that just feels right and demands more playtime. Alas, with the shared action point pool and depending on the character you choose – Wulf has a free tile chain at the start of each turn – it will seem too slight. I was hoping for more time with the board, chaining gems in moves one after the other, but you only get a brief taste per turn, which can be disappointing. More of a good thing would be something to have here, but you’re always limited to a low amount of action points to distribute.

Dungeons and Trinkets

How can something so familiar sound so unique? That’s the question a game like Demon’s Mirror dares to pose, and successfully answers it at the same time. It’s a bit of two popular genres and it doesn’t outstay its welcome; actually, I’d love to have a little more time to play around with the board instead of the brief experience in each turn. The practical graphics and organized design seal the deal for this game, which won’t make any waves and doesn’t seem to offer a whole lot of content without repetition setting in, but is bound to be a good one for fans of the genre(s).

Score: 8/10

Pros:

• A clever mix of two popular genres
• Simple design with interesting depth
• Has this addictive feel to it

Cons:

• Not enough chain-3 gameplay per turn
• Repetition may sink in
  

Demon’s Mirror review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

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